Jump Start Adventures - 3th Grade

A note to parents. A little dexterity is required to win this
game, so it may not be a good choice if your child has poor eye-
hand coordination. There is no violence in this game.

Copyright William Walker. Do not sell for a profit or give me
improper credit. 

*STORY*

Okay, lets see. When you begin the game, sign in and you find
yourself in a classroom. Out the window is mystery mountain, the
home of the inventor Professor Spark and his daughter Polly. Pick
up the transquizzer, the flashing thing on the left. Soon a robot
comes crashing through the window. His name is Botley and he's
programmed to keep an eye on Polly. Today, after coming home from
school, she activated the professor's time machine and sent 25
robots back in time. Each one is supposed to alter history in
some way. Botley and you jet off and land a little roughly at the
door to mystery mountain. Then a monitor appears with Polly on
it. She explains that at school she wrote some joke answers to a
quiz. After she get a zero she decided, rather then tangle with
her father, alter history to match her answers. Now your first
challenge is simply getting into the mountain. Let's continue.

*STORY CONTINUED*

Now, click the doorbell. Three of the six door panels light up in
order. Click on each one in the correct order and the first of
six locks opens. To open the remaining locks you must repeat more
panels. Each panel has a musical note. Don't worry - it's easy.
After opening the door Botley gives you a utility belt. Let's
take a closer look:

Back button: When you're doing an activity in the mountain, click
here to go back to the hall. From the hall click here to exit the
game.
Energy button: As you play the games in the mountain power drains
away. You may need to go to the generator to power up. 
Hint button: Click here and Botley will give you a quick tip. 
Inventory button: You'll store some things here.
Leveling console: Click here and a panel pops up. Click on one of
the three levels of difficulty to make the game harder or easier.
Only active in certain games.
Invention point display: This shows how many invention points
you've earned on that mission. You'll need them to access the
time machine. 

Now that we're inside the mountain, Botley gives you a tour of
the first floor. Then he picks up the first quiz disk and plugs
it into the transquizzer. Click on the inventory button to go to
the transquizzer screen. Click on one of the five butons at the
bottom. A question appears on the left side of the transquizzer.
Now click the yellow button on top. Your mission has now begun.
As for which one to choose, it doesn't really matter because
you'll need to do all of them eventually. Now, once Mrs. Winkle
(Polly's teacher) has asked the question and Polly given her
crazy answer, click the inventory button to put away the
transquizzer. Polly appears on a monitor and tells you the four
mission clues you'll need to bring back the robot, as well as
which robot she sent. Botley will now sense out the first floor
for clues. 

*A LITTLE MORE BASICS*

You must go to each place where he says a clue is, play the game
there and get the clue. Also, you'll need 1000 invention points.
Generally you'll get those points in the process of getting the
clues. On the later quiz disks, you need more invention points.
If you have all the mission clues but not enough invention
points, play your favorite games around the mountain until you
get them. On each quiz disk you need 500 more invention points
then on the previous points. If you're wondering what I'm talking
about, well after you get the first five robots back Polly gives
you another quiz disk with five more questions. You must complete
five quiz disks, play 25 missions, and rescue all 25 robots. This
is a big undertaking. Ready? Okay, lets go. Remember that on each
mission clues will only be at four of the eight possible places.
Their placement is random, and I'll have to tell you about the
game at each place. On each mission except the first you start at
the top of the mountain, so that's where I'll start.

*THIRD FLOOR GAMES*

Observatory

This is one of the longest games in the program. Okay, here's the
scoop - Polly's launched one of her fathers spaceships into a
constellation of stars somewhere in the universe. On the ship is
a mission clue. Of course, space is huge, so you'll need some
help. Polly will send a hint - your only hope of finding the
mission clue - to a distant black hole. Luckily, Professor Spark
launched some deep-space probes to the black hole. They can
withstand its gravitational pull. Click on the telescope and
you'll get a view of the black hole and can start the first of
three steps to getting that mission clue. 

You'll be looking at the black hole. One of the probes will move
into the black hole. Its laser will be pointing up. As you play,
sometimes parts of Polly's transmission will be beamed onto the
black hole and rotate around it, spiraling in. Press the arrow
keys to move the probe's laser. Press spacebar to fire a laser
ball out. If it hits a radio packet, the packet will be knocked
one ring outward. If it is already on the outer ring it will be
knocked out of the black hole and appear at the top of the
screen. You've got enough of Polly's message and can return to
Earth once you get four radio packets. But, every few fires a
light in the top right corner disappears. These represent the
probe's firepower. Should you run out the probe is destroyed and
another one takes over. You have four probes. Here's a strategy
that will let you beat this easily: Ignore all radio packets that
come in before you can start firing. When a new one comes in,
press the fire button quickly and repeatedly to be sure to hit
it. Since it's on the outer ring, it will become yours. Whenever
you get a packet a new one comes in. Do the same for it, then the
next and the next until you have enough. Oh, and be sure to hit
any asteroids before they reach your probe. If you play on the
higher levels you must not only get more radio packets, but you
must deal with comets. The only way to avoid comets is to turn
the probe so the comet hits the back of it. If a probe is hit by
three comets or asteroids it is destroyed. This is really
addictive. Good luck.

Once you have all the packets you'll need, you'll go to the alien
decoder, made for unscrambling extraterrestrial messages. The
first sentence of the message appears. It is scrambled. Click on
a word or words to move them to a different place. Remember:
Capital letters always begin a sentence, and it ends with a
punctuation mark. Once the sentence is unscrambled it appears
below you. The number of sentences you must unscramble is I think
equal to the number of radio packets you needed at the black
hole. After all the sentences are unscrambled a voice reads it to
you. On level three one of the blocks has two words. Once the
sentence is correct choose the word that is incorrect and put it
in the tray at the right. 

Now that you've unscrambled the hint click on the star chart. You
must now choose the correct constellation. Click on the lever at
the bottom to show all the conversations. Click the globe to
change from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere.
Click on a constellation to hear a little bit about it. If it
matches the hint, click again to select it. To have the hint read
to you again click the hint panel below the leveling console.
This is tough, as you must know a little bit about
constellations. If you're really stuck the game eventually tells
you which constellation it is. If you choose correctly, you'll
finally get the mission clue! Click on it and pit it in the
inventory. If you played the activity just to get invention
points you'll get a beautiful gold coin with a brain on it.

Robot maze

Okay, this is shorter and easier then the observatory. Botley is
in the upper right corner of this weird obstacle course the
professor uses to test his new robots. In the red box in the
lower right corner is a mission clue or some invention points. To
get Buster, the white robot to reach the box you'll need to make
use of the scrambled commands on the left. On the commands west
five means five squares west, or left. Be careful not to walk
over any quicksand, fall into any pits, or bump into any black
robots. If one of these fates befall you then you must start
again. Click a command and move it to the place you want it to
go. Black robots have predictable movement patterns. Log and
bridge commands let you cross a log or bridge in the appropriate
direction. Only these commands can be used for this. Jump
commands let you jump two squares in the appropriate direction.
If you touch a warp pad you'll teleport to another square. Each
warp pad always takes you to a specific square. If you want more
and more complex commands jack up the level. You must use all of
the commands. When you're ready to test your commands click the
button at the bottom of the command console. If the robot reaches
the box, a mission clue is yours!

*SECOND FLOOR GAMES*

Biosphere

This is a very big activity. Okay - the biosphere is a giant dome
made of three different biomes, or environments. They are: a
desert, a rain forest, a savanna, a mountain, and an ocean. After
Polly explains that a mission clue is planted somewhere in the
biosphere, click the green button to launch an explorer into the
biosphere. Click on the monitor and you can get going!

The explorer starts underground. Press up to blast the explorer's
thrusters and send it forward. Press left and right to rotate it.
On the left is a special status bar, used only in the biosphere,
to give you information.  The only two things that are important
now are the energy gauge and the clue boxes. The energy gauge
starts half full and shrinks whenever the explorer hits
something. If the explorer runs out of energy you must start
again. The faster the explorer is going the more damage it takes.
To boost your energy, fly to sparkles. If you play on a higher
level the explorer goes faster and is tougher to control. On
levels two and three you'll have to be carful not to thrust too
much, as an overpowered thrust can send you ramming into walls
before you can slow down. At the top right corner of this area is
an airlock. If it is blocked, fly to the airlock at the top left.
If it is open you can fly through and into the next area. If it
is closed, blast the explorer up to it and it is drawn inside.
Polly appears and asks you a question about life science. Click
on the correct answer. If you're right, the airlock opens and the
answer appears in the first clue box. Keep going up. You must
open five airlocks and get five clues to reach the biosphere
itself. 

Now that you've opened all five airlocks and have five clues,
you're in the biosphere dome itself. Watch out for plants that
stick up in some of the biomes, and also watch out for the
biosphere dome. Now, use your clues. All of them are something in
one of the biomes. You start in the desert. Fly right to find
more biomes. When you're in the biome you think is correct, press
spacebar to launch a probe. If it finds one of your clues down
there, the clue lights up. Be careful, you only have 15 probes.
If none of the probes find anything, you might want to move to
another biome. If you think one biome is correct, then land on
the landing pad in that biome. You must be going slowly and land
in the center of the pad. Now, click on one of the keys on the
console to open it. If you're in the correct biome you get the
mission clue! If not, you can try again in a different biome. If
you're wrong again you must start over with a new set of clues. 

Shrink-O-Matic

I love this place. Okay, Polly appears on a monitor and tells you
that one of the mission clues is miniaturized and hidden in one
of Egbert's twelve specimens. She then gives you a clue to where
it is. Click the hint button to hear the clue again. Chances are
you don't know which specimen it is. If that's the case, click on
the analyzer in Egbert's hands. Then click on one of the
specimens and Egbert tells you a little bit about it. When you
find the specimen that matches Polly's clue, click on it and put
it on the pad. Then click on the microscope and Botley will be
shrunk down to molecular size and teleported inside the specimen!

Time for a little pinball power! Botley climbs onto the
electromagnet at the bottom. Click to launch him. He curls into a
ball and jumps off, up to those multi-colored molecules up there.
Move the mouse to move the electromagnet. Any molecules he hits
pop and disappear. When he comes back down, move the
electromagnet under him so that he bounces off it. Botley has ten
lives, as indicated by the number of Botley heads below the
leveling console. Every time he falls off the screen he loses a
life. If he loses all his lives you must start over. The object
is to bust as many molecules as you can, until you reach the ball
of molecules. Once you can reach it, hit it to destroy its
molecules. Some of them might take two hits to destroy. After
they're all destroyed hit the orange molecule in the center once.
Botley searches inside it and grabs the mission clue - if you're
in the right specimen. If not, you must start over. Oh, and there
are a few other objects in inner space that you should know
about.

Black molecules can't be destroyed
Teleports zap you to the other teleport
Those weird balls bounce you off in a random direction
Little ships bounce you off

*FIRST FLOOR: NON-ART GALLERY GAMES*

Kitchen

The first floor is so big I divided it into two parts. Okay, the
kitchen door is locked. A math problem will appear in the two
middle rows of cells. Type in the answer to the numbers in the
left column. Then press enter and you move to the next cell. The
cell you're working on has a red light above it. Confused? Okay,
just add together the two numbers in the right column. Type in
the answer and pres enter. If it is a two-digit number, type only
the first digit. Then click on the cell on the very top, above
the second column. Once it has a one in it, type in the answer to
the second column. Add the two numbers together and then add one
for the number on the top. Type in the answer and you move on to
the next cell. Once you've got all the numbers placed and they're
correct the number appears on the right and the first lock opens.
You must open three locks to get in. Just play a while and you'll
get the hang of it. 

Now that you're inside the kitchen, Polly tells you that Mort,
the robot who helped you back at the door, has the mission clue.
Mort has been programmed to only give you the mission clue if you
feed him what he wants. Okay, click on the robot feeder, and Mort
tells you what he wants. The only thing you have to do is give
him the four toppings in the proper amounts. Behind you are
several different measuring cups. I call them measuring cups but
they are actually different things. The bowl will appear, and
what Mort wants is below you on the feeder. I call that area the
topping status bar. When the first topping appears on the
conveyor belt behind you, click on one of the measuring cups and
then click on the topping as it moves down the conveyor belt.
Then, move the full measuring cup over to the bowl and click
again to dump it into the bowl. Be sure to choose the correct
system of measurement - metric, molecular, or cups - for each
topping. You must figure out how to use the measuring cups to get
the right amount into the bowl. For example, if you need 1 1/8
cups of a topping, you could do that by first putting one cup in
the bowl, then putting 1/8 cup in. Hurry, before the topping
exits the screen on the left. If you put two much in the bowl,
click on the lever and it removes the topping. Then click the
lever again to turn the machine back on. If you play on a higher
level the amounts on the measuring cups make it tougher to get
the right amount. Once you have the right amount of every
topping, click on the bowl and it moves to the end of the
conveyor belt. If you're correct on every topping you'll get your
mission clue!

Jumbo Electro Generator

There is never a mission clue here. If you run out of energy you
will be unable to do any games until you come here to power up.
Okay, in the inner ring five monitors appear. Each one has a
number on it. At the top are twelve batteries. Place two
batteries on top of each monitor so that if you add the numbers
on the batteries they equal the number on the monitor. If you
take too long batteries may be deactivated. Then you must power
up that monitor again. Once every monitor is powered up the inner
ring is complete. Now you must power up the seven monitors on the
second ring. Once both rings are powered up you get restored to
full energy. On the higher levels the monitor numbers may be
higher, and you may have to do subtraction, multiplication or
division instead. It's easy!

Music hall

The first thing to do here is open the door. Botoven, the wall
robot, will help you. See the four word spaces on the left? Click
a letter tile and then click where you want it to go. If you need
help with a word click on the red button next to it and Botoven
gives you a clue. You must unscramble the letters to make a word.
For each correct word at least one letter will appear on the
password space on the right. Once you've got all the words then
you must unscramble the password. The password is what the other
four words are. Example: words are mother, father, aunt and
sister, the password is family. Once you have the password the
door opens.

Once inside the music hall, Polly explains that she'll give you a
mission clue if you play her a song. Maestro, the robot on the
right will help you. A music tablet appears. Click on is and four
musical measures appear. Click on Maestro to hear how the piece
is supposed to sound. Click on the button next to a measure to
hear it played. The measures are mixed up. Click on a measure and
then drag it to where you want to put it. Click on one of the six
musical instruments on the right to have Maestro use that
instrument. The instrument doesn't matter. Click on the play
button to hear the measures played in order. If they were in the
correct order a Maestro plays the full song for you and tells you
a little bit about it. Then you get your mission clue! Note: the
leveling console is inactive here.

*ART GALLERY*

Painting gallery

This is a pushover. Go into the art gallery and click on the
gallery with the yellow picture frames behind you. Polly will
only give you a mission clue if you paint her what she wants.
She'll tell you what she wants. Click on one of the eight frames.
If they're all full, go to one and click the back button on the
utility belt. You'll be asked if you want to save your painting -
click no. Otherwise click on an empty frame. There's a lot of
things here but you only need to worry about two. First, click
the landscape button in the top left corner. Choose the landscape
that matches Polly's story. Then, click on the button with a face
on it, below the landscape button. Click on the down arrow to
view more objects. When you find the one or ones that Polly asked
for, click on them and then click where you want to put it. Click
on the card in the bottom right corner to view Polly's story
again. On some of the later paintings you need to add a sound.
Click the sound button and then choose the sound you want. When
you think the painting is right, click on the back button and
you'll be asked if you want to save the painting - click yes. If
the painting is right, you get a mission clue! Note: the leveling
console is inactive here.



Virtual collection

Ohhh... this is tough. Click on the virtual collection machine
and Polly appears. She tells you that a mission clue is in one of
the works of art. Click the hint button to hear the clue again.
On the right are three works of art. At the top is a category
name. Click on the lever to see more works of art. Mrs. Beasley,
the art expert robot will help you understand Polly's clue. Click
on a work of art to hear more about it. If it matches the clue
click again to select it. You must know a little bit about art to
solve this puzzle. If you're right, then Polly will give you a
puzzle to solve. There are several different types of puzzle. The
puzzle is made up of six pieces (more on higher levels) and you
can click on a piece to highlight it. Click on another piece to
switch them. Click on the rotator button at the bottom of the
screen to rotate it. There are things on the edge of a puzzle
that you must match up. Each piece has four sides. Once the
puzzle is correct you get a mission clue. There are three types
of puzzle I know of. They are:

In a math puzzle, on each puzzle piece side is a number or
equation. You must match identical numbers, numbers to equations
that equal that number, or equations that have the same answer. 
In a language arts puzzle, you'll need to match synonyms,
antonyms, or homophones. antonyms are words with opposite
meanings. Synonyms are words that have almost the same meaning.
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different
spellings and meanings. 
In an art/history puzzle, you'll need to match historical
figures, facts or events with similar things. These words will be
on the left and right sides of a piece. On the top and bottom
will be pieces of art sculptures. You must make it so that the
bottom half of an art sculpture on the top of one piece and the
top of the sculpture on the bottom half of another piece come
together to form a whole art sculpture. Each puzzle has its own
historical period that it covers. 

*MISSION CONTROL*

Now that you have all the mission clues and enough invention
points, go to the third floor and click on the doors to the time
machine. Now click on the strange contraption to the left, called
the wheel of invention at the left.

Wheel of invention

The wheel of invention is a quiz that prevents robots from going
back in time and taunting early computers. But, Polly's
reprogrammed the wheel so it's a quiz show. What's it called?
Pollywood Squares, of course! On the wheel are your mission
clues. Click the on button to start. Now, that bow thing comes to
life and introduces himself as Monty Monitor, your host. He'll
ask you three questions about each mission clue. Each question is
related to the one before it. For each one choose the right
answer. The third answer tells you one of the things you need to
know about your mission. You need to know what invention or
discovery the robot is going to mess up, who's the inventor and
where and when is it taking place. Most of these questions are
about history but a few are about other subjects. After you get
three right answers for a mission clue the wheel rotates to be
pointing at another clue. Once you have all the mission clues,
click on the thing you've been working for - the time key.  

Capturing the robot

After you have the time key click on the time machine. Click on
the door to go in. Now that your inside the time machine, some of
the mission information is on the panels behind you. Click on
Botley and he pulls the lever that starts the machine. On that
giant window you'll see the robot doing its work and the inventor
making a big mistake. Click on the glowing recall button to take
the robot back. Now that you're back in the present, click the
back button to leave the time machine. Botley takes the robot
into the robot roost, where you keep all the robots you've
captured. What to do now? Do another mission of course! The world
will only be back to normal if you get all 25. If you want to
take a break, click the exit button. When you come back, click
the inventory button, and then on the transquizzer to start a
mission. Here are two of the funniest missions:

Question: Why was SCUBA gear invented?
Polly's answer: Well you know that some diving boards are really
high up. At such high altitudes there wasn't enough oxygen to
breathe. So, people wore air tanks to breath at those high
altitudes and named them scuba. Simple.

Question: What makes milk safe to drink?
Polly's answer: Simple. Before you milk the cow, simply heat up
the milk bag with a burner. This kills all bacteria in there. Of
course, it's not too comfortable for the cows, but it's worth it
to make milk safe to drink! 

Well, time for me to go now. I hope you enjoy Jumpstart
Adventures 3rd Grade. Good luck, and if you have any questions,
e-mail j-d-walker@worldnet.att.net.